Collections : [College of William and Mary]

Diaries and legal documents, 1810-1896, written by Benjamin Thompson (1810-1870) and Otis Thompson (1879-1896) of Topsham, Maine. Diaries include description of his life as a teenager working on a farm, people with whom he interacted, towns he visited, and the sermons at his church. There are also diaries of his life as a teacher, which include daily notes on what he taught. There are also descriptions of a trip that Thompson took to Ohio.

Diary, 1881, of a Singer Sewing Machines salesman from Lisbon Falls, Maine. Describes daily activities, work-related and private. Accounts are kept in back of diary.

Account book, 1899-1917, of the Lewiston & Auburn Musical Union of Lewiston, Maine. Includes information on rent on studio space, subletting that space, membership dues, recital ticket sales, whist games, lectures, and banquets. Also includes information on their expenses, such as newspaper advertisments, janitor sercies, rent, and purchases of music. Also includes cancelled checks written by the organization.

Diary of Mabel Towne (b. 1873), of Norway, Maine, for the year 1887. In brief daily entries, Mabel records weather, family life and social activities.

Minute book, 1827-1849, of the Methodist Chapel of Gardiner, Maine. Concerns the quarterly conferences and meetings of their board leaders; topics discussed include salaries of preachers, the admittance, probation, and expulsion of members, donations required to fund new projects, the condition of the church library, and other items. There is also information about the trial of William Springer, who is alledged to have cursed in public. Also includes list of attendees of the meetings.

Diaries, 1890-1899, of Nelson and Daniel Gordon, brothers from Thorndike, Maine. Nelson Gordon was the town clerk of Thorndike, Maine, and Daniel Gordon was a school teacher who also made caskets. Nelson's diary, 1890, talks about his wife, Emma, his daily activities, his interaction with his local community, his job, among others.

This collection comprises letters sent primarily to and from Annie and Nellie Pease. They are from local friends and schoolmates as well as members of the Pease family who are situated for the most part in Bangor and Cornish, Maine. The letters deal with the personal lives of a close social network of young girls and their families who stay in touch after their graduation from school. The subjects of the letters range from classes, teachers and vacation plans to what is going on in the local community concerning deaths, weddings, and travel. A detailed examination of these letters reveals information concerning the school life and education of young, nineteenth-century women as well as their own experiences of teaching. Moreover, there are details as to what books were popular, from Caesar to Cicero and Dickens to Emerson, as well as to what subjects were being taught and how the girls responded to them; botany, natural history, and flower collecting are frequently mentioned.

Diary, 1862, of Sarah Ladd of Portland, Maine. Ladd was a teenager at the time that she wrote this diary and attended the Willis School. Topics include church; family life, including being grounded; and neighbors going to fight in the Civil War.